London Planetree

London planetree is the massive, tough, urban-proof shade tree with the most distinctive bark in the deciduous tree world, the outer bark flakes off in irregular plates to reveal a patchwork of cream, olive, and tan beneath, giving the trunk and major limbs a camouflage pattern that is visible from blocks away. It grows seventy to one hundred feet with a broad, spreading crown, and the large, maple-like leaves provide dense summer shade. A hybrid between the American sycamore and the Oriental plane, it was first recognized in the seventeenth century and has been the dominant street tree of European cities ever since.

In Western Washington, London planetree handles urban conditions, compacted soil, heat islands, pollution, restricted root zones, better than almost any other large shade tree. The exfoliating bark and the tolerance for hard pruning made it the street tree of choice in cities for centuries. Several diseases are tracked, including anthracnose, which causes leaf blotching and twig dieback during cool, wet springs, our standard spring weather. Most trees recover without intervention. The primary consideration is scale: this is a tree that eventually needs enormous space, both above and below ground. Aggressive surface roots will lift sidewalks. For a park, a large commercial property, or a wide boulevard, London planetree provides scale, character, and year-round bark interest that no other tree matches.